The One Who Got Away
by icbiwf
Summary: AU modern-day. One-shot. Caesar Flickerman of Channel 6 News, king of the "man on the street" interviews, is interviewing people about "the one who got away." Two of his random interviewees share similarly compelling stories. How was he to know it was actually two sides of the same story? Random idea I couldn't get out of my head.


Peeta Mellark was just sitting down with his bowl of stew when he saw the time and flipped on the local news. He saw that they seemed to already be in the middle of the "Man on the Street" segment and he wondered if he had missed his short interview, or if they had even used any of it. He marveled again at how easily he had opened up to Caesar Flickerman in that interview. Flickerman was an odd man, but he was an institution at Channel 6. He'd been doing Man on the Street interviews for as long as Peeta could remember.

It's that familiarity that Peeta blamed for his willingness to talk so freely about her. He usually tried not to think about her, it only brought up painful memories. He had been in a melancholy mood all day after he did that interview. That's why he had made lamb stew for dinner. If this was going to be one of _those_ nights, he might as well embrace it. Maybe he'd even paint her again later.

Peeta hadn't seen any clips of himself when the segment ended and they returned to Caesar and the anchor in the news studio.

_Great piece, Caesar._

_Thanks, Claudius. Before we end our segment on "The One Who Got Away," I just want to highlight two folks we met today while talking to people. These two stuck out at me because they both had such similar stories, and because they both seemed so affected by them. _

_These are two people who've truly felt the pain of the one who got away?_

_I dare say, yes. First, this young woman we met toward the end of our day of filming._

Peeta felt like he'd been punched in the gut. On his TV was the beautiful face of Katniss Everdeen.

.

_Hi, Caesar Flickerman, Channel 6 News. We're doing a story about 'the one who got away.' Do you have a one who got away?_

_Well, there's the one who left. The only guy I've ever really dated._

_You've only ever dated one guy? What's the story there?_

_I was never into dating as a kid. I just thought it was a waste of time, I had school and I had to support myself and I never planned on marrying anyway, so I just didn't bother dating. But then I met this one guy and I fell for him. Hard. At the time he said he felt the same way about me. But I wasn't very good at being in a relationship, since I had never so much as gone on a date before this guy, and I guess at some point he just got fed up with dealing with me and he left._

_How long did it take you to get over him?_

_Well, after that I just went back to not dating. So either no time at all, or never, depending on how you mean that._

_You know, you're the second person today to say that they stopped dating altogether after the one who got away._

_Really? That does surprise me. Most people aren't as emotionally invested in a single relationship as I was._

.

Katniss was pleasantly surprised with how well she had made out with her piece on the news. They hadn't chopped it up and used one five-second bit, they had actually used enough of the clip so that what she said on TV was pretty close to what she had really said. She was still mortified that she had actually agreed to do the short interview. There was just something about being stopped on the street by Caesar Flickerman that made her want to tell him her story. Oh, well. Who really watches the five o'clock local news anyway? Hopefully no one she knew would see it.

They were showing another of Flickerman's interviews now, and she almost dropped her mug of tea when she saw Peeta Mellark on her screen.

.

_Hi, I'm Caesar Flickerman, from Channel 6 News. We're interviewing people about 'the one who got away.' Do you have a story you could share with us?_

_The one that got away? Yeah, I guess you could say I do._

_Can you tell us about it?_

_Well, there was this girl I loved for a long time. I finally worked up the nerve to tell her and we dated for a while. Happiest time of my life. _

_So how did she get away?_

_She was never as into the relationship as I was. She said she was happy, but I could tell she really wasn't. She was a horrible liar. I thought maybe I was trying to push things too fast, I tried to ease off and let her set the pace. But it turned out that she was really in love with someone else. _

_Oh, that is a piece of bad luck._

_It's not good._

_And how long did it take you to get over her?_

_I'll never get over her. I'm not interested in a consolation prize, and I'm sure no one else is interested in being my backup plan. No, I had my chance at love and it didn't work out._

_That's kind of sad._

_Well I try not to spend a lot of time dwelling on it. _

.

What the hell was she talking about, he left? He was there until the bitter end, until she made it abundantly clear that he wasn't the one she loved.

What the hell was he talking about, she was in love with someone else? Was he still obsessing over Gale? Sure Gale loved her, and yes they had kissed a handful of times. But that was just because she was trying to sort her feelings out. It was hard to make the leap from never dating to head-over-heels, it wasn't her fault if she needed some time to sort herself out. Besides, she was sorted and done with Gale before he left.

Why did she say she didn't date anymore? All this time he had assumed she was off somewhere happy with Gale. What happened with them?

Why didn't he date anymore? He could easily find someone, someone who would actually know what they were doing, someone who would probably treat him a lot better than she ever managed to. Who was that leggy blonde who used to come by his bakery and give her dirty looks? Shimmer? Trimmer?

Was there a chance she was telling the truth in her interview with Caesar Flickerman? Did she really think he left her? Was their breakup just some kind of huge misunderstanding? He looked over at his phone, sitting on the table next to the remote. Would her old number still work? Should he try to call her? Would she answer if he did? Did he really want to talk to her and reopen all those old wounds? Was it worth the risk?

Was there a chance he was telling the truth in his interview with Caesar Flickerman? Did he really think she loved Gale? Was their breakup just some kind of huge misunderstanding? She looked over at her phone, sitting next to her on the couch. Would his old number still work? Should she try to call him? Would he answer if she did? Did she really want to talk to him and reopen all those old wounds? Was it worth the risk?


End file.
